Rail bond



June 8,1937. Ni, D EMS 2,083,006

RAIL BOND Filed July 11, 1934 ATTORNE INVENTOR W 7'11, 9

Patented June 8, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAIL BOND Application July 11, 1934, Serial No. 734,580

3 Claims.

This invention relates to conductors, more especially to conductors for connecting the adjacent ends of railway rails, particularly those for use in connection with railway track circuits.

5 It iswell understood by those skilled in the railway signalling art, that a track circuit includes an isolated section of the trackway formed by placing insulating joints in each of the lines of rails, and by connecting a battery across the rails at one end, and a relay across the rails at the other end.

It is also well understood that the ordinary rail connecting or fish plates connecting the adjacent endsof the ordinary thirty-six foot sections are not to be relied upon to furnish sufiicient conductivity for the electrical energy which flows in the rails from the battery at one end of the section to the relay at the other end thereof. This fact has necessitated a special bonding of each of the adjacent abutting rail ends within the section.

Great diificulties have been encountered in successfully bonding the adjacent abutting rail ends in track circuit sections because provision has to be' made for many adverse conditions. A common method is to bond, from one rail web to the adjacent rail web, by means of one or a plurality of conductors of a length somewhat greater than the length of the fish plates. This method of bonding exposes the bonding wires to mechanical injury, inthat, they may become entangled with dragging parts from the rolling stock, or may actually'get onto the top of the rail, and so besevered by the passage thereover of the wheels of rolling stock. In addition, they are very likely to be damaged by track men while working along the track, particularly when working in and about the rail joint, and more especially when tightening the bolts thereof, or replacing the fish plates with new plates. a

40 A very pronounced difliculty'with the old type of bond is, that due to its length and in spite of its size as it may be commercialLv used, it does not offer a conductivity as reat as is desired.

' The desired conductivity cannot be attained 5 without enlarging the. bond to a prohibitive ext .Attemptshavebeen made to increase the 0on uctivity anddecrease the mechanical disadvan- Ifj .tage arteries by ap lying a bond directly to the rail heads! Such'a bond an be very short, as

co nparedjwith .the previously described Ibond,

" therefor ,fp t asiven dlameterhave increased conductivi y'in'th'atitha's le'ss resistance. Such bonds have, in general; been applied to the head of the rail by electrical or flame welding. Many competent engineers are adverse to applying any considerable degree of heat to the side of the ball of a rail, especially adjacent the end thereof, and this reluctance, considered by many to be well founded, has militated against the use 5 of such bonds.

A further difilculty which has been met-with in the type of bond applied directly to the rail heads is that it is particularly exposed to injury by snow ploughs and ballast spreaders. Both of 10 these devices, and especially the ballast spreader, have parts which extend below the top surface of the head of the rail on the outside thereof. These "parts, due to the swaying of the vehicle, come in contact with the head of rail bonds and 15 destroy them.

Attempts have been made to attach bonds to railheads by drilling a cavity in the rail head and attaching the bond to a plug driven into the cavity. A difficulty with this type of bond 20 arises from the fact that it is necessary to drill a relatively deep hole in the head of the rail.

. This hole penetrates what might be called the active load bearing cross-sectional area of the head and to that extent weakens the rail head. 25

In my copending application Serial No. 538,943, filed May 21, 1931, I have illustrated, described and claimed a type of bond for attachment to rail heads. This type of bond obviates many of the defects of the types of bonds heretofore used 30 and has many desirable virtues especially in that the. cavity which must be formed in the head of the rail for the reception thereof is so shallow that it does not penetrate the active load sustaining cross-section of the rail.

By reason of 35 this fact, incipient cracks which may develop in the rail head are not afiorded an easy opportunity to spread by reason of the cavity formed for the reception of the head of the rail bond, as that cavity does not closely approach the point of 4 origin of the cracks.

I have discovered, in practice, that the type of bond illustrated and described in my copending application, hereinbefore referred to, has a weakness in that it is subject to injury at the junction 5 line of the surface in which the cavity is produced and the bond. This weakness has been cured by me through the adoption of the structure of bond as shown by my copending application Serial No. 600,595, filed March 23, 1932, 50 now Patent No. 1,945,480 dated January 30,1934.

A principal object of this invention is to provide a bond of the'type illustrated, described and claimed in my copending applications hereinbefore mentioned, of such construction that it will 55 have the desirable virtues of the specific constructions of the prior application, and in addition will have desirable virtues not possessed by the prior forms.

A further object of the invention is to devise a bond of the type specified in which the conductor extending from one body to another body shall be provided on each end with a structure,

or terminal made of a single piece of metal.

A further object of the invention is a terminal for a bond of the type described which will be formed of a single piece of metaland comprise a fending off portion, a conductor portion and a thimble portion for insertion in a cavity in the body to be connected.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progresses, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail and the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention," reference will be had to the accompanying drawing and 'the several views thereon, in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views,

and in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the adjacent rail heads with a bond embodying my invention in place thereon; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device as shown by Fig. 1 but with some parts broken away and sectionalized to more clearly show the construction; Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the active load-bearing crosssection of a rail head; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view 'on the plane indicated by the line IV-IV of Fig.2, viewed in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the line; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view on the plane indicated by the line VV of Fig. 2, viewed in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the line; Fig. 6 is aperspective view of an improved terminal embodying my invention.

In Fig. 1, numeral l designates one rail head and numeral 2 designates the other rail head, in line therewith and adjacent thereto.

Numeral 3 designates an electrical conductor for connecting one rail head to the other rail head. This electrical conductor may be made ferred or usual form, but applicant prefers to make the conductor 3 of a plurality of very thin sheets formed into the wave form as shown. Each of the sheets or lamina is formed of a conducting metal, such as copper, and preferably the outside one or two sheets should be formed of phosphor bronze.

The ends of the conductor 3 are each connected to a terminal member as 4 and 5. Each of these terminal members is similarly construct- 60 ed but reversely arranged as is more clearly shown by- Fig. 2.

Both the rails have an orifice or cavity 6 formed therein. This cavity in accordance with the teachings of my prior specifications should be so positioned on the side of the rail head that it penetrates slightly if at all the active load bearing cross-section of the rail head as defined by the lines 1 in Fig. 3.

portion 8 which is substantially a hollow cylinder closed at one end by an end wall as 9. This thimble portion. is of a size such that it may be readily positioned within the cavityG. Within" 7 the thimble portion is a plug 10 wh ch s adapted of any preferred or usual metal and in any pre- Each of the terminals, as 5, has .a thimblewhen struck by a tool as H to be distorted or deformed into the shape as shown in Fig. 5. In order that this deforming may readily take place both the thimble 8 and the plug l0 are made of a readily plastic metal such as fairly soft copper or mild steel.- In practice the plug is retained within the thimble .while being transported by indenting the thimble 8 at two places as at l2 and I3 whereby some of the material of the thimble is driven into the material of the plug and so retains the plug in place.

Each thimble has integrally formed. therewith, two wings as It and I5. One outside surface of each of these wings is substantially tangent to the outer surface of the thimble 8 along the longitudinal center thereof. Each wing is depressed and flattened into a thin plate or sheet as at l6 and I! to one side of the longitudinal center. On the other side of the longitudinal center each plate is tapered in a direction toward the longitudinal axis as at I8 and I9 and in addition the edges 20 and 2.! are scarfed off or tapered backwardly in a direction toward the base or bottom of the thimble thereby bringing the parts to a rounded point at 22. The portions of the wings at each side of the thimble are connected together I by a web, as 23, on one side, and 24, on the other side. These webs connect what might be called the upper and lower wings and these webs are connected integrally withthe thimble and with the wings and taper slightly outwardly from the thimble so asto afford a space between them and the head of the rail, as at 25 and 26, within which a two pronged lever may be positioned for exerting force to withdraw the thimble from the cavity in the rail head when it is desired to remove it for any reason, such as a defect, in order to replace it by a new one.

The wing portions l6 and I! are orificed, preferably, as at 21 and 28, so that when the conductor 3 is positioned in the slot formed by the two wings it may then be more securely fastened therein by passing rivets, as 29 and 30, therethrough, although applicant prefers in addition, to either weld or solder the wings to the conductor 3, in fact, applicant prefers to dip the whole terminal after the conductor is attached thereto in molten solder or tin so as to cover the whole terminal and parts associated directly therewith with a protecting cover of solder or tin or like metal.

Applicants terminal or thimble being made in one piece is strong and rugged and successfully withstands the abuse to which such objects are usually subjected. The tapering of the wings on one side of the thimble forms a fender which is eflicacious in fending off bodies which may drag along the rail head and which otherwise might strike such a blow upon the bond as to completely loosen it from its cavity in the rail head, at the same time the fender and slot for the conductor are so formed that they do not interferewith the insertion of a tool, such as l l, by which to deform the plug l0 and cause. it to expand the thimble in the cavity so as to tightly grip the wall thereof.

Although I have particularly described one particular physical embodiment of my invention and explained the operation, construction and principle thereof, nevertheless, I desire to have it understood that the form selected is merely illustrative, but does not exhaust the possible physical embodiments of the idea of means underlying my invention.

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Stateais:

a 1. A thimble for a rail bond composed of a relatively plastic metal, and formed as a hollow cylinder having one closed .end, and with a wing tangent substantially at its center point to the outside surface. of the thimble, and one portion depressed and extending as a sheet to one side of the longitudinal center of the thimble and having its edge adjacent the cylindrical portion of the thimble rounded and further depressed and forming a continuation of the thimble, the wing on the other side of the longitudinal center line of the'thimble being gradually depressed and tapered on its edge remote from the thimble toward the base of the thimble and its edge adjacent the thimble being rounded, connected integrally with the thimble, and tapering away from the base of the thimble whereby the'first mentioned portion of the wing is adapted for attachment'to a conductor and the second mentioned portion of the wing acts as a buffer to ward off dangling parts of rolling stock and whereby two sloping curved surfaces are formed, one on each side of the cylindrical portion of the thimble for receiving the parts of a pry bar for removing the thimble from a cavity, said thimble adapted to receive a plug of plastic metal for securing it within a cavity in a metal body.

2. In a thimble for a rail bond made of relatively plastic metal formed substantially as a hollow cylinder having one end closed, having formed integrally therewith at its opposite end two wings, one of said wings at its center being substantially tangent to the outside surface and at one side of the center being depressed and extending as a sheet and on the other side of the center gradually tapering in a direction toward the base of the thimble and its top surface gradu- 5 ally depressed in a direction toward the opposite surface of the thimble to which it is tangent, the

other wing being tangent at its center to the outside surface of the thimble opposite to that to which the first wing is tangent and its oppo- 10 site sides similarly but reversely formed to that of the first wing, and a web integral with the thimble and integral with, both wings on the edge thereof toward the closed end of the thimble whereby a slot is provided forattachment of a 15 grally formed sheets formed on one side of the thimble for the receptionof a conductor and on 25 the other side for fending off a passing body, both upwardly and outwardly, said sheets being substantially tangent to the thimble at substantially their juncture therewith and being depressed and tapered outwardly from the thimble. 3

EDWARD M. DEEMS. 

